Our work at the Ruhr University in Bochum involves multidisciplinary basic research (in theory and experiment) into the nature of evolutionary self-organization and its applications to Living Technology, embracing the three rapidly expanding technologies: Information Technology (IT), Biotechnology (BT) and Nanotechnology (NT).
Our group is funded by its involvement in public grant projects. Projects recently completed at the Ruhr University include:
- Programmable Artificial Cell Evolution (PACE) 2004-2008 (coord)
- Hepatosys : Mesoscale Simulation of Endocytosis 2004-2010
A lasting product of the EU-funded PACE project has been the establishment of the European Centre for Living Technology in Venice, of which the Ruhr-Universität Bochum is a member and John McCaskill a founding director and now member of the Science Board.
Current research projects are:
- Electronic Chemical Cells (ECCell) 2008-2011 (coord)
- Matrix for Chemical IT (MATCHIT) 2010-2012
- COST Action on Systems Chemistry 2009-2012
- Coordination of Biological and Chemical IT Research Activities (COBRA) 2010-2012
In addition we are actively involved in developing a large ICT flagship initiative on Sustainable Personal Living Technology (SPliT)
Artificial cell design is one area which pushes the limits of our ability to understand and utilize self-organizing chemical systems. Another is modelling combinatorially complex live cell processes like endocytosis, where complex structures sort molecular information in a dynamic turnover of physical transport and reaction. BioMIP is building custom microscopic environments for such complex chemical systems with electronic control using digital MEMS technology.